--An appeal letter to the top leaders in China from the daughter of Ms. Chen Zixiu who was persecuted to death in the crackdown of Falun Gong

(Part 1)

Among all the talks that I made with officials in the various national appealing bureaus, the longest one did not last more than 15 minutes. In addition, most of the receptionists were quite impatient, as if we were making troubles for them.

-- The Author

To the leaders of the Chinese Central Government,

Greetings! I'm Zhang Xuelin, 31 years old. I'm a villager in Xujia Village, Beiguan Town, Weicheng District, Weifang City in Shangdong Province. On February 21 of this year, my mother, Ms. Chen Zixiu, a 58-year-old Falun Gong practitioner, was beaten and tortured to death within three days in the secret "forced transformation" site in Weicheng District. Here I would like to describe the whole course of the incident (I wrote two articles before) and state my own retrospection and thinking of the past half year. I wish that the government would know the truth, as well as the genuine feelings and living situations of our common people. Even if I am detained again and die like my mother, I would not hesitate or feel sorry about it.

At the end of February, I wrote two articles and mailed them to the administration bodies of the office of State Councils, the office of the Central Government, Chinese Central Television Station and other news media. I provided the sources and true stories of the incidents to them, as well as to some residents in the local area. In early March, according to police, my article was posted on the Internet. Just because of these two articles, the police summoned me four times until April 3, which totaled 107 hours. On April 17, I was held by the police in the name of administrative detention for 15 days, based on Item 5 in Article 19 in "the Provisions to the Management of Social Security." Their charge was "distorting the facts and disturbing social order". Even now, I still don't know how I distorted the facts and what facts I distorted. What are the facts supposed to be? After being released, I gained certain freedoms since they withdrew restricted surveillance on my home by the administrative officials and police. I have been constantly appealing to the police, legislative and administrative bureaus. I do wish to believe in the law and the government.

On March 11, the police verbally explained to me the results of my mother's pathological analysis. I don't know much about medicine. So I requested the forensic reports, but was denied. But I understood from the pathological analysis that acute severe pulmonary emphysema could lead to death in a very short period. My mom's lungs were quite healthy, and before she left home she had no such symptoms at all. She must have been beaten up and tortured to death, which is undeniable. However, I did not have any written explanation or conclusion from the police. The police once suggested that I check the Criminal Law and the Codes for criminal procedure. They would examine the case and then pass it to the investigation bureau.

On March 16, from 5:30PM to 7:00PM, the working group, which consisted of nearly 20 leaders from the police and investigation bureau and governmental officials from the village, town and district; sent notice to my brother and me, demanding us to go to the cremation field at 9:00AM the next morning. We immediately expressed our opposition. At the same time, we questioned all of them: What disease caused the death, what had my mother gone through in those three days, and the relationship between the torture and her death. I knew who the murderers were. I knew that they were still at large. At 9:00AM on March 17, we arrived at the cremation field. The cremation field was heavily guarded. I estimated that there were about 200 people and 20 police vehicles; which were all from the police, the investigation bureau and the court. One of my relatives and I again presented the opposition from the family: we did not agree on the cremation and submitted a written request for the storage of the corpse and the right to handle it by ourselves. At noon, the chief of the legal section in the District police station, accompanied by the leaders of the administrative office, gave us the final notice, "no matter whether you agree or not, the cremation has to be carried out at noon; someone will be responsible for it." However, when we requested the certificate of cremation later on, nobody was responsible to handle our case.

I believed that the police and judicial department would have a conclusion after examination of this case, so I started to request the forensic reports. Here are the various responses:

District Police Department: the forensic reports had been finished a long time ago, but we could not give it to you. What we told you earlier was the result (referring to their verbal message about the pathological analysis). If you don't agree, you can apply for reexamination to the higher authorities.

City Police Department: If you disagreed with the forensic reports from the District Police Bureau, you have to submit the certificate of the entrustment from the District Office and the materials from the initial forensic examination.

District Police Department: during the last forensic anatomy, there were officials from the City Police Department. So there was no need to submit materials. If you don't believe, you may ask them. (However, I believe the primary criminals to organize the torture were the officials in the District offices.)

I also visited the investigation bureau and the court. Their responses are:

City Middle-level People's Court: Criminal cases cannot be indicted by individuals and should be brought to public prosecution.

City Investigation Bureau: We do not accept any cases related to Falun Gong, even related homicide cases.

The High-level Province's Investigation Bureau: You had better hurry to sue the murderer!

Province's Administrative Office and Government Office: Don't you know what kind of organization Falun Gong is? (They even questioned me back) Why didn't they accept your case? Don't you know?

Province's Police Department: (I submitted the articles that I and the eye-witnesses wrote) your mom died from a heart attack. Didn't you agree with that yourself? (I have never agreed with that.) Why do you come here to make troubles! Go away! Go away! Go away!

The Offices of State Councils and Central Government: Go appeal to the State Police Department.

The Highest Procuratorial Organ: Go appeal to the State Police Department.

The National Women Association: You've got to stop appealing around. Please go home quickly. There are some nation's policies that we could not explain and there is no way to explain. Yet, we are not able to do anything for you.

The State Police Department: I wrote a letter to Weicheng District's Police Department on June 19. (The original sealed letter was passed to the District's Police Department)

The District's Police Department: after repeated requests, there was still no written decision as of July 21. (Because I did not agree with the administrative detention by the District's Police Department, this was also included in the appealing procedure).

The District's Police Department: The decision was made to sustain the administrative detention applied.

The District's Court: they received my letter before the due date. After my repeated requests, they indicated verbally that: we would not establish a court case for your administrative lawsuit. We could not give you the reasons and the written decision on why we didn't establish the case. You can talk directly to our higher offices.

The District's Representative Office of People's Congress: The District People's Court did not establish a court case, but they should give you something; however, they felt that the decision from the District's Police Department was quite appropriate. You'd better go to the Middle-level Court.

The Middle-level Court: (Response from telephone consultation) "Why did the District Court say that? You should have the legal evidence to point out that what they did was wrong. Have you found out the legal evidence?" Then the phone was abruptly hung up.

The City Administrative Office and Government Office: "We cannot deal with this case. We don't handle this kinds of cases. You are really young and capable!"

The Highest People's Court: "Without the trials from local people's court, you should not appeal here. If the court still does not accept the case, you should go to the State Police Department again."

Response from the Office of the National People's Congress: without the ruling from the Court, we would not accept your case.

The second visit to the State Police Department: (Another police officer received me, while he did not know the whole course of appealing) He first drafted a letter to the City Police Department; then patiently listened to me while I explained it all to him. He said: "People should not be beaten to death even if they practice Falun Gong!" He was shocked: "The police even detained you?" ...... He wanted to say something but, on second thought, held it. He finally said: "Trust the law". Only at that moment, I had the feeling of being consoled. But who knows what kind of leaders that our local judicial department relies on.

The State Judicial Department: (The response from telephone consultation, concerning the death of my mother) You may ask the State Police Department, regarding whether this case is completely closed or is set aside. The cause of death must be explained clearly.

I asked: "Is it due to the issue of Falun Gong that we encountered this consequence?" They answered: "It should not be."

However, three days later, when I went to the office of the State Judicial Department in person, I got a different reply: "Is this what the local court told you? What can the judicial department do? (The police won't accept the case of my mother's death) The administrative body has its arrangement. Ok, you'd better stop the appeal and obey the order from the administration."

However, according to a fellow-villager from the Shandong Province who appealed to the State Police Department at the same time, there was one Falun Gong practitioner who came to here to appeal. He was beaten up right after he claimed to practice Falun Gong.

Response from the Judicial Department of the State Councils: (after they heard about my mother being tortured to death due to the practice of Falun Gong, they hummed and hawed for quite a while.) This matter is quite complicated. You'd better go to the Supervisory Department of the State Committee of Discipline Examination.

Response from the Supervisory Department of the State Committee of Discipline Examination: go to the State Police Department.

During the many times I appealed, I saw and met the large assembly of appealing groups. There were so many unbelievable things, but they appeared to be so common, except for the Falun Gong practitioners being detained by the police. According to the policeman who was in charge of receiving appeals from Falun Gong practitioners at the gate, among the 100 people who appealed, there would be no more than 10 cases resolved. There was so much disappointment, anger and hopelessness. Among all the talks that I made with the officials in the various national appealing bureaus, the longest one did not last more than 15 minutes. In addition, most of receptionists were quite impatient, as if we were troubling them.

(Part 2)

After my mother was dead, I have been looking for justice from the laws. However, what moved me is the great law of Falun Dafa......

-- The Author

I received my education after the "Gang Of Four" was smashed. Like most young people of this generation, I loved my country and had full confidence of this age. I believed, with effort of our generation, our life values would be realized and our life would be more beautiful. I deemed myself as the ideal dialectic materialist with great ambition. Although there are many not-so-good phenomena in our life, I believe our government would solve them.

In 1996, some of my relatives started to practice Falun Gong. At that time, I took it as a leisure exercise for them to kill time and build their bodies after retirement. Gradually, I found they often discussed the theories in Zhuan Falun. I thought I was a pure materialist, so I tried to debate with them with what I had learned. Since I wanted to criticize them, I read Zhuan Falun against my own will. As I was reading the book, I found out the answers to my criticisms. But more questions appeared, and then the answers found. I was always reminding myself that I should not believe in these things. However after that day, a voice was rang in my ears: don't tell lies, don't do bad deeds. Although I still had unanswered questions, I started not to fight off Falun Gong and practitioners. Later on, my mother started practicing Falun Gong. Seeing with my own eyes so many beneficial changes in her after practicing , I began to support practitioners. After the 1999 Spring Festival, out of concern for myself, I started practicing Falun Gong too. Till the 4.25 event, it's been only two months.

During that period, I took the opportunity to join the practitioners' meeting. Being with them, I had a serene and auspicious feeling that I had never experienced before. People don't have to think about social status, wealth, age, class and such things. They are noble-minded people. Only with "pure land" could I describe a group of these people. It's just like Xanadu. I have never known the relationship among people could be so nice. And those months were the most harmonious of the thirty years I lived with my mother.

My mother started to practice Falun Gong in the Fall of 1997. She practiced it not for health reasons, since she had been very strong and healthy. She did not believe in anything, either. Our family has never done any ancestor worship. Mother did not believe fortune-telling. After Dad passed away, she became irascible because of loneliness and pressure. She smoked quite often and easily got angry. In order not to bother the children when she got old and have something to place hope on, she started practice for self-cultivation.

Once she started the practice Falun Gong her period resumed, years after menopause. Gradually, she quit smoking. Every day, she cleaned up the passageway around our house and the sewer on the road. Less and less often she would get angry. She kept talking about the feeling of practicing Falun Gong. I am happy for the vitality shown in mother's life. In order to show my support, I cleared out a room and moved the practice site into our house. Grandpa Liang in our neighborhood was afflicted by various illnesses and hardly could walk on his own. Shortly after he started practicing, he was able to walk like a normal person and got rid of all of his illnesses. His gray eyebrows and hair gradually turned black. In our region, the education level is relatively low. Many people came to join the cultivation not because of the rationale of Falun Dafa, but after seeing the actual effects. The miracles that happened to Falun Gong practitioners could not be explained by common knowledge, however they found clear and explicit explanation in the rationale of Falun Gong.

I don't know the causes of the April 25 event, but I stopped practicing after that. Between April 25 and July 22, I appreciated the sayings of the government and tried to persuade my mother and other practitioners.

Since July 22, the televisions ran an overwhelming propaganda campaign. I tried to be with the government. I handed in the book for my mother, and wrote a warrantee to quit the practice. Several days later, mother fell into extreme agony. Although her life was full of frustrations, I have never seen her like this before. She nearly collapsed! With the thorough propagandizing, I was puzzled. Zhuan Falun has never said that the earth is going to explode, and has never forbidden people to take medicines....... And among the practitioners I know, there is no case of suicide, not to say killing other people.

Later on, quite a few practitioners were arrested and denounced at a public meeting. Many families were monitored. Mother and other practitioners could be summoned for "education" at any time. Passengers on coaches were cross-questioned several times along the way, some could not pass unless they smeared Master Li. Even my 5-year-old son knew that he should not tell people his grandma practiced Falun Gong, otherwise the policeman would take her away. I won't force my mother to do something, but I can pledge to the government that mother won't go to Beijing. She has little income, little education and wouldl be easily lost.

On December 4, I received a notice from the government to turn in the money. The notice said that mother went to Beijing and was detained, and she has to pay the fine. I "confiscated" my mother's income. Government officials took turns to persuade us, talking about the possible consequences. I felt quite disgusted about the coercive manner of several of them. At that time, I was against mother's going to Beijing on one hand, and against the practice of the government on the other. Maybe because I still believed in the rationale of Falun Gong, maybe because I was moved by the selfless and fearless behavior of some practitioners, or maybe because making an appeal is a citizen's right guaranteed by the constitution and laws, I decided not to bother mother. She should enjoy her freedom, and should be respected, since she had done nothing wrong. But soon, she was beaten to death. After her death, what I have seen and experienced is so inconceivable.

Mother has done nothing, but was persecuted to death. The cause of her death is not Falun Gong. But what was the public saying at that time? I came to realize it is the government that has been misleading us. I gave a second thought to the events of April 25 and July 20. To the dismay of a big nation, is the chaos and numbness of the souls. The practitioners are so great, for they discard the slavish nature, and dare to sacrifice their life for the truth. How essential is one's belief! I feel the grandeur and power of Master Li.

In the detention center, I began to read Zhuan Falun afresh. The great law unfolds itself in front of me. The practitioners are unconquerable. Toward Falun Gong, except reprimand and abuse, the government has never given any solid evidence. With the "Truth of the Universe", we have found the answers to all questions in this life. I have resumed my cultivation practice again. The feeling is so wonderful. If everyone faced the life with "Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance", and cultivated their hearts, they would receive the most beautiful gift, which is beyond language. Any attack from the government seems pallid and powerless.

Practitioners do not pursue political interest. Mother always gave up her right to vote. If Master Li had a political pursuit, no one would practice Falun Gong. We are not against the government. If we have done something wrong, anyone could point it out. Are only non-practitioners going to be the stabilizing factor of the political power and trusted by the government? "Practitioners will threaten the government," Isn't this "false reasoning and heretic ideas?" For all of the attacks and persecution, the government can not give a "reasoning." We are even more steadfast in the great law of Dafa. By no means are we against the government. Perhaps, I have a little resentment against those who inflicted the suffering upon us, but we can not wink at the criminals who persecuted Dafa practitioners, otherwise it's a blasphemy of the laws in the human world. Remaining steadfast to dignity is the responsibility of each citizen, likewise remaining steadfast to the dignity of Dafa is the responsibility of each Dafa practitioner.

If the government now decides to redress Falun Gong, at least all our local officials in charge of Falun Gong issues, I believe, will take great load off their minds. They have nothing else to do. When they employed illegal means to punish these innocent people, they were so sinful as to face retribution for a life of crime. Some officials who were forced to ransack practitioners' homes kept saying to practitioners' families: "We are wrong, we are not reasonable, they are all good people, we don't want to do this......."

Isn't that being practical and realistic is a good style of the Communist Party? Why not learn the truth and make a right decision? There is a Chinese saying: "having a hard time in exchange for shabby genteel," I hope the leaders of central never be "having a hard a time" for this issue any longer.

I am still willing to trust Chinese government, but one after correcting mistakes. We are looking forward to it.

Truthfully

Zhang Xueling

08/22/2000